


equalities

by hamIzas



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: F/M, Modern AU, problems people are still facing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-10 19:12:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7857679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamIzas/pseuds/hamIzas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Elizabeth Schuyler."</p><p>His eyes widened, his gaze turning from the floor to her bright brown eyes. He could not quite place what he saw in them, but he felt her judging every single bit of him. From his clothes, which were ragged and barely doing their job of keeping himself clothed, his appearance, which gave off the dangerous vibe most parents usually warned their children to stay away from, and the small 'home' he stayed in, which resembled more of trash than a home.</p><p>"Miss Schuyler," he squeaked, unable to hide the surprise that laced in the tone of his voice. His eyes continued to bore into hers before her expression turned one into an unreadable one before lightly taking a step away from him.</p><p>"Don't touch me."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. summary

**Author's Note:**

> i thOUGHT THIS WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA FOR A STORY DONT JUDGE ME IT'LL GET BETTER 
> 
> (i am also aware the first chapter, this one, is just the same as the summary. i'm still writing lmao)

"Elizabeth Schuyler."

His eyes widened, his gaze turning from the floor to her bright brown eyes. He could not quite place what he saw in them, but he felt her judging every single bit of him. From his clothes, which were ragged and barely doing their job of keeping himself clothed, his appearance, which gave off the dangerous vibe most parents usually warned their children to stay away from, and the small 'home' he stayed in, which resembled more of trash than a home.

"Miss Schuyler," he squeaked, unable to hide the surprise that laced in the tone of his voice. His eyes continued to bore into hers before her expression turned one into an unreadable one before lightly taking a step away from him.

"Don't touch me."


	2. time square

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which alex takes a walk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: i re-wrote the whole chapter lmao please comment what you think!! i would love constructive criticism

It was small, but it was all he had. A small, abandoned apartment in the outskirts of New York City itself, he resided. Having little to no money, he only struggled to keep him eating. True, city life was hard, just as the caretaker from the orphanage had said before he left, but his head full of fantasies of accomplishing great feats, he ignored her.

All he had done for himself is make matters worse. Back in Nevis, at least he was eating three full, healthy meals a day. Now he could barely gather up enough change to feed himself twice, but in reality, he wasn't doing too bad. He took up a job handing out McDonalds leaflets outside the fierce heat or the staggering cold. It didn't pay nearly enough, it was literally only a dollar over minimum wage, but Alex had to make do.

In fact, he could have rented a proper apartment for himself if he had really wanted to, but the place he illegally lodged in was enough, even quite cozy once he had gotten used to it. Though he had a pay that would not keep him homeless, he owed a big debt to a few people back home, and sent nearly three fourths of his monthly pay back to Nevis, leaving him nearly penniless.

However, he thought, this was the past, and it was way better not to dwell in it. Unhealthy, even. So with a sigh, he heaved himself off the chair in his apartment and proceeded to wear the light jacket for the breeze outside—summer was nearly over. Winter was always tough for Alex, since he had no heating and would freeze to death if he remained in the abandoned building over the season, so he often had to stay with his friend, Lafayette. He lived in much better conditions, with his parents who had adopted him when he was only thirteen, after his parents passed away. Though Alex hated having to be the burden for someone, it was the only way to survive, and while Lafayette or his family even regularly offered him a better job, a better home, all he refused. A stupid decision, some say, but he had his reasons.

Alex left the building, tired. It was evening, but Lafayette had offered dinner at their residence, and Alex, as usual, would have said thanks, but no thanks. After he had heard Lafayette’s mother, Martha, give him a long lecture about it was absolutely no trouble at all and he _really_ needed more nutritional foods in his system, he reluctantly agreed. Grudgingly, Alex thought, was he really that thin? Granted, he couldn’t eat as much as he’d like to, but times are tough.

He was dressed in the best outfit he could buy. Half of the small belongings he owned came from Lafayette’s family, but he still had clearly next to nothing. He wouldn’t have been living this long in New York without them, so he was still overly grateful for them.

As he rounded the corner, he could hear a loud voice from behind him, speaking in another language, but he still recognised every word perfectly. He glanced from behind his shoulder and found a girl cursing profoundly in French.

Knowing that someone using curses that heavy never meant anything good, Alex quickened his pace and finally saw the figure of Lafayette’s house and sighed with relief. New York was a weird place.


	3. the sisters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which words cannot be brought back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay uh hi i really like how i wrote this chapter bc it contains a lot of angst and y'all should know i love angst sm omg
> 
> anyway this idea started with the schuyler sisters. the song, i mean. it showed a mutual sisterly love how eliza asks angelica to remind her what they were looking for with a smirk on her face. something i want you to know right now is that in this story, eliza isn't the character she is in hamilton, or maybe in real life, even. she is often cold, close-minded, and often looks down upon things or people not in her class or league. she is still old-fashioned, because she was brought up with her father always closely watching, so in a sense his beliefs rubbed off on her, as opposed to angelica. 
> 
> i made eliza like this because she represents people who still do believe in things like white supremacy, racism, sexism, and much more. with my story, i hope i can show you how she will slowly change her character for the better as time goes on. the message i want to tell is that people change, even if you are the worst or best of ones. 
> 
> don't hate me bc i made eliza as not a particularly engaging character ok change is coming she'll come around

“Eliza, come _on_ ,” she begged, tugging her hand as she looked up to see her sister with an impatient expression. She wore a cool, red dress that ended on her knees and her was let down—though she always preferred it tied back.

“Angelica, really, I don’t want to go anywhere.” she sighed, pulling her hand back from her sister’s grasp and clutched her book once more. 

Angelica was the first born of three children. Much to the distaste of their father, however, she seemed the least type of person who would try to uphold the family name. Eliza often agreed with him. Angelica wasn’t irresponsible, but she was, and for lack of better word, rebellious. She almost always had gotten into arguments with their father, and occasionally with their mother, who now lived in England. 

 To leave their residence against her father’s orders wasn’t something Eliza didn’t strictly follow, but she was already in thin ice with him as it was and she couldn’t bear another hour-long lecture. 

 “You’re just saying this because our father said not to.” 

 Eliza stood, the book still in her possession, a hard glare evident in her light brown eyes. Why didn’t she get it? If she didn’t care about their reputation, she did. She protected it with every fibre of her being.

 “So what? Angelica, I’m not like you. I’m not going to go behind our father’s backs just for the hell of it. I’ve no business to be out in the City to follow you around like a duck. Now, if you want to go get high with Thomas Jefferson again that’s completely fine—“ 

 Before she could finish her words, however, she felt Angelica pull on her collar and she was forced to stare directly into her sister’s eyes. She imagined, like hers, it was filled with fury. They got along well, but arguments with topics like these always ended up with two weeks of not noticing each other’s existence. 

 “The only reason I bring _you_ ,” she snarled. “and Peggy along is because I want to expose you to something else other than this stupid, controlled life we are forced to live in. You believe in such things that are meant for the eighteenth century. You ought to think that we should be in university at this stage, not sitting around in this place with a high-school education when we perfectly have the capability or funds for something bigger, something better. You are _so_ close-minded, and I’ve had to live with it for nearly my whole life, not standing how you could make our father smile with pride with your idiotic beliefs. At least Peggy is wiling to look around and see what else awaits us other than this useless future we’ve been cursed into.”

 Eliza staggered back as Angelica released her, and out from the corner of her eye she could see their youngest sister, Peggy, with a look of concern on her face as she remained the doorway of their living room. 

 “Maybe I want to live in this ‘useless future’, my dearest Angelica,” she shot back, sarcasm dripping from her last words. “I, however, unlike you, want to make something of myself instead of getting wasted and high every other day. Our job is to inherit our father’s business like good young women when the time arrives, it’s a pity this is not something you want to settle into. I’m ashamed that you’d much rather be a low-life. I can’t believe _I_ had to live _my_ whole life with you. You are just jealous that father is proud of me and Peggy, whereas he nearly disowns you. You being my sister is the worst thing I have have to go through.”

Guilt immediately coursed through her body and hit her like a train when she saw Angelica’s eyes flash to genuine offence as her eyes shone in the bright light with tears, before turning into a glare of anger she had never seen before. 

 “You should have told me,” she laughed, obviously still hurt. “I would have been more than glad to leave this place long ago. And don’t flatter yourself, I don’t want my father’s pride bestowed on me if it meant I would have to live without free will and thought.”

 With this, leaving a lightly shaking Eliza and a shocked Peggy, she stormed upstairs and heard a door slam loudly, ringing off every wall in their house. 

 Eliza took a glance at her youngest sister, and felt even more guilt when she saw the disappointment etched into her expression. She turned, and like her sister, went up the stairs, and slammed the door behind her. 


	4. cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which he is offered

As the breeze steadily grew colder, Alex was thankful that he was finally in the heat of Lafayette’s home. 

 

In fact, Lafayette’s parents, Martha and George, were fussing about how red he looked from the cold. It wasn’t _chilly_ out, but somehow, the weather suddenly turned in on itself and disobeyed the forecaster’s warning of a hot night.

 

It was in the dinner table, then, that Alex was enjoying salmon and vegetables. It was delicious, he noted. He hadn’t eaten anything this good unless he was with them. In vain, he tried to ignore the envy in his stomach as he thought about how Lafayette could enjoy these meals and live comfortably every single day. 

 

Only one year ago, when Lafayette had just turned nineteen and Alex was nearing twenty, he proposed to his parents that they adopt Alex into the family, since adoptions of adults were completely legal anyway. They did this without notifying Alex, since if it never went as plan he wouldn’t have hard feelings and possibly even blame himself. After much consideration, the family decided they would not adopt Alex, since while they lived a fairly stable life, they didn’t have much more to spare on an entirely new person. Lafayette, feeling guilty that they couldn’t take Alex into the family, always offered for him to spend the night at their house, to which Alex always refused to for most of the year but would have no choice when winter came.

 

“Alex, dear, have some more veggies,” Martha cooed, pushing the plate of vegetables gently in Alexander’s direction. Though he was still hungry, he shook his head politely.

 

“I’m full,” he lied. He excused himself from the table and made his way up the stairs to where Lafayette was. He had skipped dinner again, his parents explained. With that in mind, Alex sighed. He wasn’t eating again.

 

Alex reached the door at the far end of the hallway. He knocked on the door softly, but proceeded in anyway. As he swung the door open, his eyes scanned the room for his friend, but had found him in his bed, staring up at the ceiling with a blank expression.

 

A frown on his face, Alex walked over to the bed and sat down beside it. He nudged Lafayette by the arm. He didn’t even blink.

 

“Laf, it’s me.” Alex said, though he knew Lafayette knew it was him. He finally set his eyes on Alex, but never made any sort of greeting. 

 

“ _Réveillez-vous_ ,” said Alex, though he wasn’t asleep. He just muttered the first thing he could think of. 

 

“ _je suis réveillé, mon ami_ ,” Lafayette muttered back in a hoarse voice, like he hadn’t spoken in hours. He sat up on his bed reluctantly, coughing as he did so. He looked like he had just finished a ten-kilometer marathon, at the same time also like he had just waken from a nightmare-filled sleep. 

 

_In short,_ Alex thought, _he looks like a mess._

 

“Why didn’t you come down for dinner?” 

 

“I was not—what’s the word—hungry.”

 

Alex shot him a look that evidently told Lafayette that he was not convinced, but he fell silent instead of continuing the conversation.

 

“Anyway, it’s approaching winter. Well, that’s not true. It’s actually just turning fall and winter’s months away but my _des parents_ insisted that they take you in until spring. I wasn’t supposed to be the one to tell you, though. You’re living such a rough life in that shabby place and you look extremely unhealthy,” Lafayette smiled, taking in Alex’s small, frail body. 

 

It was true, though.

 

“Laf, you know—“

 

“Jesus, Alex. _Ils ne prennent pas non pour une réponse_ ,” he smirked. 

 

“No, Lafayette. I’m too much trouble, you know that. I take way too much space than I’m supposed too, though I shouldn’t even take up space _at all_ , in fact,” Alex laughed, a sense of sadness in the forced gesture.

 

After a moment of strained silence, Lafayette finally spoke once more, “Please stay.” 

 

It sounded desperate, like he had been dying to say those words and when Alex glanced at him in surprise at the tone of his voice, he saw the slight glimmer in Lafayette’s eyes, filled with tears.

 

Lafayette’s hand, which was on his lap, felt cold to Alex’s touch. In fact, his hand was _very_ cold, but Alex closed his hand around his and squeezed it lightly, as if offering assurance. 

 

“I will.”


	5. night air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which two engage in a conversation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took a long time to write but at least i'm satisfied with it lmao i also have a lot of school stuff so this was delayed
> 
> pardon my french it's taken directly out of google translate so it might not match with what they're saying so forgive me
> 
> PLEASE COMMENT WHAT YOU THINK AND LEAVE KUDOS IF YOU LIKE IT! those mean so much to me y'all don't understand
> 
> ((translations will be at the end of the chapter))

As the breeze steadily grew colder, Alex was thankful that he was finally in the heat of Lafayette’s home. 

 

In fact, Lafayette’s parents, Martha and George, were fussing about how red he looked from the cold. It wasn’t _chilly_ out, but somehow, the weather suddenly turned in on itself and disobeyed the forecaster’s warning of a hot night.

 

It was in the dinner table, then, that Alex was enjoying salmon and vegetables. It was delicious, he noted. He hadn’t eaten anything this good unless he was with them. In vain, he tried to ignore the envy in his stomach as he thought about how Lafayette could enjoy these meals and live comfortably every single day. 

 

Only one year ago, when Lafayette had just turned nineteen and Alex was nearing twenty, he proposed to his parents that they adopt Alex into the family, since adoptions of adults were completely legal anyway. They did this without notifying Alex, since if it never went as plan he wouldn’t have hard feelings and possibly even blame himself. After much consideration, the family decided they would not adopt Alex, since while they lived a fairly stable life, they didn’t have much more to spare on an entirely new person. Lafayette, feeling guilty that they couldn’t take Alex into the family, always offered for him to spend the night at their house, to which Alex always refused to for most of the year but would have no choice when winter came.

 

“Alex, dear, have some more veggies,” Martha cooed, pushing the plate of vegetables gently in Alexander’s direction. Though he was still hungry, he shook his head politely.

 

“I’m full,” he lied. He excused himself from the table and made his way up the stairs to where Lafayette was. He had skipped dinner again, his parents explained. With that in mind, Alex sighed. He wasn’t eating again.

 

Alex reached the door at the far end of the hallway. He knocked on the door softly, but proceeded in anyway. As he swung the door open, his eyes scanned the room for his friend, but had found him in his bed, staring up at the ceiling with a blank expression.

 

A frown on his face, Alex walked over to the bed and sat down beside it. He nudged Lafayette by the arm. He didn’t even blink.

 

“Laf, it’s me.” Alex said, though he knew Lafayette knew it was him. He finally set his eyes on Alex, but never made any sort of greeting. 

 

“ _Réveillez-vous_ ,” said Alex, though he wasn’t asleep. He just muttered the first thing he could think of. 

 

“ _je suis réveillé_ ,” Lafayette muttered back in a hoarse voice, like he hadn’t spoken in hours. He sat up on his bed reluctantly, coughing as he did so. He looked like he had just finished a ten-kilometer marathon, at the same time also like he had just waken from a nightmare-filled sleep. 

 

_In short,_ Alex thought, _he looks like a mess._

 

“Why didn’t you come down for dinner?” 

 

“I was not—what’s the word—hungry.”

 

Alex shot him a look that evidently told Lafayette that he was not convinced, but he fell silent instead of continuing the conversation.

 

“Anyway, it’s approaching winter. Well, that’s not true. It’s actually just turning fall and winter’s months away but m _es parents_ insisted that they take you in until spring. I wasn’t supposed to be the one to tell you, though. You’re living such a rough life in that shabby place and you look extremely unhealthy,” Lafayette smiled, taking in Alex’s small, frail body. It was a doubtful smile, worried that he might have offended Alex.

 

It was true, though. He didn’t feel hurt in any way—there was no use lying about how he lived. 

 

“Laf, you know—“

 

“Jesus, Alex. _Ils ne prennent pas non pour une réponse_ ,” he smirked. 

 

“No, Lafayette. I’m too much trouble, you know that. I take way too much space than I’m supposed too, though I shouldn’t even take up space _at all_ , in fact,” Alex laughed, a sense of sadness in the forced gesture.

 

He looked in the other direction while he felt Lafayette’s concerned gaze on him, but he only spoke when he felt Lafayette drop his stare to his lap. He shouldn’t have said that, damn it. He didn’t _mean_ what he said. Maybe he did, but what did it matter? He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. 

 

“That’s not true, Alex. You’re amazing. I haven’t met anyone like you.” he beamed. 

 

Alex smiled back, knowing that his comment was genuine. That was what Alex liked about Lafayette, he always, as much as possible, told the truth. He was always to the point and never sugarcoated things, which was a type of person rare nowadays. He couldn’t help but feel lucky, even in his conditions. 

 

_There are people with worse circumstances than I’m in,_ he thought. He felt his mood improve drastically from this point onward as he rose from the bed and looked down on Lafayette.

 

“Are you sure you want me to stay? I swear, I’m fine.” he reassured him once more, but when the Frenchman shake his head rapidly halfway into hearing Alex’s sentence, he knew there was no other option but to stay with them. 

 

“Really, I’m sure. This is what my parents want, _mon ami_. Plus, my birthday’s coming up soon, let’s have it as a Christmas present, yeah? An advance one.”

 

Alex nodded.

 

“When do I move-in?” he said sheepishly, still feeling like a disturbance to Lafayette and his family.

 

“Soon. Hell, tomorrow, even, if you want. I can tell them I told you and the spare bedroom’s practically yours anyway.”

 

“I—fine. Tomorrow. I’ll get here, ‘round nine in the evening?”

 

“It’s so dark out at that time. In fact, it’s nine o’clock now. Can I drive you back?” he offered, standing from his bed and tying his hair into a tight ponytail behind his back. Alex felt reminded of someone, but couldn’t exactly name who. He shrugged it off.

He was about to protest, to say he’ll be fine on his own, but he knew that would just start a five-minute banter between him and his friend, so he silently agreed and descended down the stairs, bidding Mr. and Mrs. Washington a good night and heading into the mixture of warm and chilly night air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Réveillez-vous - wake up 
> 
> je suis réveillé - i am awake
> 
> Ils ne prennent pas non pour une réponse - they do not take no for an answer
> 
> mon ami - my friend


End file.
